Central Europe
Migration Issues The Czech EU presidency (in the first half of 2009) further brought the region into the spotlight. A series of events were organized including the Ministerial Conference "Building Migration Partnerships," where IOM was represented at the highest level. Furthermore, at least two important developments are noteworthy. First, as of 1 January 2009, IOM became the National Focal Point for Slovakia in the European Migration Network on the basis of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed in December 2008. Consequently, IOM started negotiations with the Slovak Government on an intergovernmental agreement covering the implementation of the aforementioned MoU. Secondly, the Timisoara Emergency Transit Centre was officially opened on 12 March 2009, jointly with UNHCR and the Romanian government. The opening of this Centre represents a milestone in the collective effort to provide vulnerable refugees with safe and secure accommodations as they await resettlement in a third country. The unfolding economic crisis has impacted on the situation of migrants in Central Europe. In the framework of existing assisted voluntary return (AVR) schemes, several IOM missions in the region are being confronted with an ever-growing number of migrants (legal or irregular) who wish to return back to their countries of origin, utilizing the opportunities that AVR programmes offer to them. Regionally, IOM remains engaged in a series of projects focusing on: a) the prevention and combat against human trafficking and smuggling, b) capacity-building for migration management, and c) conducting assessment studies to evaluate the overall integration of EU and third-country nationals in the host countries of this region. |
Principal IOM Offices
Educational Toolkit
A toolkit teaching young people about migration and asylum in the European Union
